October's been busy and now for November

We’ve been crazy busy getting things moving the last few months.between Macabee Metals and COSoM. We’ve been making lots of stuff for the holidays and teaching people how to do what we love.
On November 25th we will host our small business Saturday on Sunday. Our craftspeople will be demonstrating their work and selling their wares. We will also offer make and takes where you can craft an item and give it as a gift or keep it for yourself. I will have more details as we go forward both here and in the events section of the website and on Facebook. the Cosom and Macabee metals pages on Facebook. we should have room for a few more vendors contact me at Adlai@macabeeknives.com if you are interested.

Check out our class listings we will be adding new and unique classes soon as well as gift certificates for the Holidays.

October was a very exciting and busy month for us. We had our first Date Night event. Where couples came and worked on several projects in our studio. They forged skulls from steel, sculpted spiders from copper, bats from leather and cast Halloween coins from pewter.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to spend their Halloween Playing with Fire.

I also got to work with some great kids at the Idea Foundry who came from Columbus Torah Academy. The school is working on developing a Makerspace along with it’s STEM program. Teaching the next generation to work with their hands and the satisfaction that comes with creating and taking a project to completion not only builds self confidence but also teaches them appreciation for arts and fine craftsmanship. It teaches them how much hard work goes into even something as simple as a coat hook.

I like use a teamwork approach with my younger students so that one holds the stock and the other one strikes. It not only gets them to work together but they also build the project faster when they can get a little more power and control using both hands to strike.

Thanks for all your love and support. we couldn’t do this with out you.

My Influences

I was watching Forged in Fire the Hollywood Edition which aired on September 12, 2018. Instead of forging their signature blade in round 1 they had to forge a survival knife based on Rambo. the knife they used of inspiration was the Gil Hibben knife that he made for Rambo 3. I was disappointed that he wasn’t given credit. However this gave me thought about who my inspirations were in knife making and bladesmithing.

I think the first time I was aware of how knives were made was when I was 16 and snuck into see Conan The Barbarian because it was rated R. Even though the sword making scene was complete fantasy it ignited a fire in me. It took me about 7 years later to make that dream a reality. I met a smith, Thomas Powers at a reenactment event and after conniving him to let me try it out I was hooked.

From Thomas I met Tom Maranger who had the cleanest grind lines I’ve ever seen. He also introduced me to The Complete Bladesmith by Jim Hrisoulas which gave me a text book of sorts to work on my own.

The next big influence was taking a damascus forging class from Hugh Bartrug. I learned more that week from an experienced smith than I was able to learn from books and my own feeble attempts at smithing on my own.

Master Smith Don Fogg. was another huge eyeopener for me. I knew him by reputation and from on line via The Bladesmiths Forum. He was always willing to share his knowledge and help out other smiths. I met him at a hammer in at Larry Harley’s. He forged a blade out of some bloomery steel made by Ric Furrer on site. Don forges better than I grind. His hammer control is unbelievable. Meeting Ric, Kevin Cashen and Rick Barrett just added to the experience over the weekend.

To list a few more in no particular order:
JRR Tolkien, Robert E Howard, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Beowulf, Viking Sagas, and countless museums, history and sci-fi and fantasy stories. Organizations like Artists Blacksmiths of North America (ABANA), American Bladesmith Society (ABS) and Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil (SOFA). Finally all the people who have taken the time to teach demo and talk shop over the years like all

Never stop learning and forging
Who are your influences?

Adlai
Photo By Sarah Elizabeth Photography

Veeva Team Building at COSoM

The guys from Veeva had their annual get together in Columbus this week and decided to stop by our shop for some team building with some blacksmithing and leather working. The forged bottle openers and crafted leather bracelets We all had a really great time.

If you are interested in a team building experience contact us at info@cosommetalwork.com.